Virgil Thomson News

Hailed as "one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its "full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times)," The Dessoff Choirs continues its 94th season with Whitman and the Civil War: a spring concert inspired by the American poet and journalist Walt Whitman (1819-1892) and his relationship with the Civil War. As part of a season-long celebration of Whitman's bicentennial, Dessoff's 50 singers will perform exquisite choral settings of Whitman's poetry by Van, Clausen, Weill, and Stanford as well as the world premiere of Ian Sturges Milliken's Whispers of Heavenly Death. (Please scroll below for complete program details.)

January 9, 2019: The program for the 2019 Thessaly Chamber Music Festival was announced today by Chamber Music Hellas President Vasos Papagapitos, and Artistic Director, Lowell Liebermann. Set in the mythical land of the gods in central Greece, the Thessaly Chamber Music Festival, now in its second year, will take place June 14-24, 2019 and will offer seven concerts of iconic masterpieces of the chamber music literature alongside compositions of Greek classical composers, as well as other neglected and unusual masterworks. The performances will be offered free of charge to the residents of the region and Master Classes are planned at the music conservatories in Larissa and Volos.

Recent Grammy Award-winners Third Coast Percussion return to Liquid Music with new works by two incredible musical minds: the iconic American composer Philip Glass and the pop polymath Devonte Hynes, a.k.a. Blood Orange. Glass's new work, written for Third Coast Percussion and co-commissioned by Liquid Music, is his first ever for percussion ensemble. Hynes, who has also become a Glass collaborator in recent years, brings his "dense modern pop with roots in hip-hop, R&B and NYC culture" (The Guardian) to an entirely new sound world in his piece for Third Coast Percussion.

The legacy of music icons - including Aaron Copland, Johnny Mathis and Joni Mitchell - continues to inspire award-worthy creative works. These artists are among the subjects of recently named winners of the 50th annualASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Awards for outstanding print, broadcast and new media coverage of music.

The 'sublimely exploratory' (The Chicago Reader) Wet Ink Ensemble continues its 20th anniversary season today, October 27, 2018 at 8:00pm with a staged production of Wet Ink-member Kate Soper's IPSA DIXIT, part of Miller Theatre at Columbia University's Composer Portrait: Kate Soper.

Hailed as “one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its “full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times),” The Dessoff Choirs today announced its annual holiday concert series. Now in its 94th year, The Dessoff Choirs continues to wow audiences with its seasonal repertoire performed in some of New York City's most beautiful churches. This season's offerings include a sing-in of Handel's Messiah, contemporary arrangement of carols, and a rare performance of the nine-movement Christmas cantata The Ballad of the Brown King with music by African-American composer Margaret Bonds and text by writer Langston Hughes. (Program details are below.)

Hailed as "one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its "full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times)," The Dessoff Choirs today announced its annual holiday concert series. Now in its 94th year, The Dessoff Choirs continues to wow audiences with its seasonal repertoire performed in some of New York City's most beautiful churches. This season's offerings include a sing-in of Handel's Messiah, contemporary arrangement of carols, and a rare performance of the nine-movement Christmas cantata The Ballad of the Brown King with music by African-American composer Margaret Bonds and text by writer Langston Hughes. (Program details are below.)

From October 31 - November 4 at The Harman Center for the Arts in the heart of the nation's capital, The Washington Ballet will showcase its range of abilities and depth of versatility in an extraordinary program that pays tribute to the 20th century's most accomplished American modern choreographers. Contemporary Masters will include iconic works by three of the greatest influencers of modern American dance, Mark Morris, Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor.  

The 'sublimely exploratory' (The Chicago Reader) Wet Ink Ensemble continues its 20th anniversary season on Saturday, October 27, 2018 at 8:00pm with a staged production of Wet Ink-member Kate Soper's IPSA DIXIT, part of Miller Theatre at Columbia University's Composer Portrait: Kate Soper.

The Dessoff Choirs begins its 94th season with Requiem for Whitman: a one night only concert inspired by the American poet and journalist Walt Whitman (1819-1892). As part of a season-long celebration of Whitman's bicentennial, Dessoff's 60 singers will perform exquisite choral settings of Whitman's poetry by Bach, Schuman, Pizzetti, as well as the world premiere of a newly commissioned Whitman-inspired work by contemporary composer Douglas Geers.

Encompass New Opera Theatre will present the World Premiere of Anna Christie with music by Edward Thomas, set to a libretto by Joseph Masteroff, with 12 performances beginning on Thursday, October 4, 2018 at 8pm and running through Sunday, October 21, 2018, at the Baruch Performing Arts Center (at 55 Lexington Avenue, entrance on 25th Street, between Lexington and Third Avenues) in Manhattan.

Recent Grammy Award-winners Third Coast Percussion return to Liquid Music with new works by two incredible musical minds: the iconic American composer Philip Glass and the pop polymath Devonte Hynes, a.k.a. Blood Orange. Glass's new work, written for Third Coast Percussion and co-commissioned by Liquid Music, is his first ever for percussion ensemble. Hynes, who has also become a Glass collaborator in recent years, brings his "dense modern pop with roots in hip-hop, R&B and NYC culture" (The Guardian) to an entirely new sound world in his piece for Third Coast Percussion. More concert details to be announced in October.

Encompass New Opera Theatre will present the world premiere of Anna Christie with music by Edward Thomas set to a libretto by Joseph Masteroff, beginning on Thursday, October 4, 2018 at 8pm, running through Sunday, October 21, 2018, at the Baruch Performing Arts Center (at 55 Lexington Avenue, entrance on 25th Street, between Lexington and Third Avenues). 

Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts opens its 30th Anniversary 2018-19 Season and launches its new Chamber Opera Commissioning Initiative with the New York Premiere of PROVING UP, adapted from the short story "Proving Up" by Karen Russell.

The Orchestra Now (TON), the visionary orchestra and master's degree program founded in 2015 by Bard College president and conductor, educator, and music historian Leon Botstein, will open its fourth season on September 15, 2018. Five individual series and two special events will present 17 different programs offering innovative combinations of familiar and lesser-known repertoire through May 19, 2019. To date, the young members of TON have performed close to 100 concerts for more than 35,000 New Yorkers.

Morris Choral Society to feature distinguished soloist's Baritone Jonathan Scott, Mezzo Soprano Maya Hoover and organist Michael Shane Wittenburg in Gabriel Faure's Requiem in d minor May 12th.

Hailed as "one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its "full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times)," The Dessoff Choirs culminates its 93rd season with a "Freedom Concert" inspired by the late Coretta Scott King (b. April 27, 1927), wife of Martin Luther King Jr., and advocate for African-American equality.

Producers Darlene Kaplan, Laura Janik Cronin and Scott Newsome, in association with Alec Seymour, present the Off-Broadway premiere of The Stone Witch, a play by Shem Bitterman (A Death in Colombia, Influence).  Performances begin Monday, March 12, 2018 for an open-ended engagement atThe Westside Theatre - Upstairs (407 West 43rd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues).  Opening Night is Sunday evening, March 25, 2018 at 6:30PM.

The little OPERA theatre of ny (LOTNY), in collaboration with New York based period ensemble New Vintage Baroque,presents the New York City Premiere of Piramo e Tisbe at Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue, NYC, from March 22-25, 2018, with performances on Thursday through Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $35 and are available at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/35006. Based upon the story of Pyramus and Thisbe from Ovid's Metamorphoses with a libretto by Marco Coltellini, Piramo e Tisbe is byJohann Adolph Hasse, a pivotal opera composer of the 18th Century celebrated for his sweet and tender melodies. Sung in Italian with English supertitles.

The Orchestra Now (T?N) will feature a prolific spring season offering no less than five concerts in New York City beginning on March 16, when associate conductor James Bagwell leads a FREE concert of works by Bizet, Part, and Virgil Thomson at The Great Hall at Cooper Union, part of the Orchestra's ever popular and family-friendly Around Town series. The concert will be repeated at Hudson Hall in Hudson, NY on March 18.